UCLA men have no answer in 30-point loss to No. 2 Michigan
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The UCLA men’s basketball team had won five of its past six games. Then No. 2 Michigan happened.
Yaxel Lendeborg had 17 points and eight rebounds to lead No. 2 Michigan to an 86-66 victory over the Bruins on Saturday, putting the Wolverines in position to be ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2013.
No. 1 Arizona lost Monday night on the road against No. 9 Kansas, giving the Wolverines (24-1, 14-1 Big Ten) a path to the top spot in the poll with their 10th consecutive victory.
Trent Perry scored 11 of his 14 points in the first half for UCLA (17-8, 9-5) and Tyler Bilodeau had 10 of his points in the opening 20 minutes, when the visitors trailed 40-38.
Michigan made nine straight shots – including two Lendeborg 3-pointers – early in the second half to turn what was a closely contested game into a 70-49 lead with 7:36 to play.
Donovan Dent added 10 points for the Bruins and Skyy Clark scored eight points in 16 minutes off the bench, his first appearance after sitting out 10 games with a hamstring injury.
UCLA shot 38% (22 of 58) from the field and 29% (6 of 21) from 3-point range. Michigan, on the other hand, buried 62% (31 of 50) of its shots including 37% (7 of 19) from beyond the arc.
Just two years after losing a school-record 24 games in Juwan Howard’s final season, Michigan and coach Dusty May have taken advantage of the transfer portal to build a deep and talented roster that has won 24 of 25 games for the first time in school history.
The Wolverines are aiming to be No. 1 for the first time since Jan. 28, 2013, a season that ended with AP national player of the year Trey Burke and coach John Beilein losing to Rick Pitino-led Louisville in the national championship game.
In their latest lopsided win, Morez Johnson finished with 15 points, LJ Cason scored 13 and Nimari Burnett added 12.
Aday Mara, the 7-foot-3 former Bruin, had nine points, eight rebounds and three blocks against his former team.
UCLA doesn’t catch any breaks in its Big Ten schedule, traveling to East Lansing to take on No. 10 Michigan State on Tuesday.